Labyrinth a maze in her mind
by Joyeaux5-10
Summary: Jareth tricked Sarah with the peach he forgot a rule of magic, nothing of the Fae (or underground) can leave for more than 13 hours. The peach, the tiny bit of underground that now will always be inside her is now slowly killing her. She is slowly being pulled apart both body and mind. can she be saved? M for language & under age sexual themes. No copywrite infringement intended
1. Chapter 1

They didn't think Sarah could hear them just outside the little exam-room. One of many, side by side, one then another, hallways and coroner turning into each other. The hospital was so large it was like a maze… A labyrinth... Sarah heard the doctor's words as clearly as if she had been the smiling blonde nurse who had left only moments earlier with more of her blood in glass tubes… Long tubes rounded at the bottom, they reminded her of something, she wasn't sure what, maybe bubbles, no not bubbles crystal balls. What a silly thought, crystal balls… She could hear almost everything lately; sometimes she thought she could hear her Father's and Karen's thoughts. She couldn't make many sense of her own these last few months.

"_I have very good news! All the tests came back negative for cancer."_

_"O thank God! That's wonderful!... But do… Do you know what** is** the matter?"_

_ "We believe Sarah has Graves' disease. Those who suffer from Graves' disease have symptoms of an overactive thyroid. An overactive thyroid causes every function of the body to speed up, such as heart rate and the rate your body turns food into energy. But the most noticeable symptoms are __trouble sleeping, __irritability or nervousness, __heat sensitivity, increased sweating, __hand tremors, __rapid heartbeat, __thinning of skin or fine, brittle hair. Along with frequent bowel movements, weight loss without dieting, fatigue or muscle weakness, as well as lighter menstrual flow and less frequent periods."_

They knew the symptoms fit what Sarah had been going through to a tee.

_"The blood samples we took have been sent to the lab. If there is a high level of thyroid hormone in the blood plus a low level of TSH is a sign of overactive thyroid. We also are looking for antibodies that suggest Graves' disease…" _

Well they now had a name for what was wrong with her, broken in her. But Sarah still didn't, first her body became weak and now her thoughts seemed to be like sand pouring out of her hands, no matter how hard she tried to hold on to them they kept slipping away.

* * *

11 months earlier

Jareth noticed a young human girl with a baby brother, she was like many others unsatisfied by the un-extraordinary world around them, naive, selfish, short tempered, nearsighted and immature. However she had a distinctive flare for theatric and an imagination unlike any other he had seen in several centuries. Little Sarah would one day grow up to be a beautiful woman, even for an ordinary human. Many times he'd played games, amused himself with trifles of human girl's will. Soon she would say the words, he knew it, it was just a matter of time.

"Once upon a time, there was a beautiful young girl whose stepmother always made her stay home with the baby. And the baby was a spoiled child, and wanted everything to himself, and the young girl was practically a slave. But what no one knew is that the king of the goblins had fallen in love with the girl, and he had given her certain powers. So one night, when the baby had been particularly cruel to her, she called on the goblins for help! "Say your right words," the goblins said, "and we'll take the baby to the castle, and you will be free!" But the girl knew that the Goblin King would keep the baby in his castle forever and ever and ever, and turn it into a goblin! And so the girl suffered in silence. Until one day, when she was tired from a day of housework, and she was hurt by the harsh words of her stepmother, and she could no longer stand it..."

He found her passion and unremorseful attitude attractive; he did not always answer human girls' wishes swiftly, if at all, having become slightly bored with winning so often and so easily. He was most interested to see her reaction and how far she would make it. She was almost ruthless, brutally honest to her "peers'" maybe she wouldn't ask for her brother back… No she would; she didn't try or want to be hurtful. She was more caring than she was selfish… What was that word…? Teenager! That was what humans described this uniquely human emotional and physical state that had always captivated him. When become young humans completely different creatures but are suck between the world of children and adults. Most become infatuated with the opposite sex, she simply found ordinary "puppy love" boring, who wouldn't!

"I can bear it no longer! Goblin King! Goblin King! Wherever you may be take this child of mine far away from me!"

Fae's are eternal in some ways... In the underground time and the passing of it is fluid, like water it forms to the shape of what holds it. Its course is easily altered, redirected, or even reversed. It can be frozen and even disappear like vapor. So it was still hard not to envy a humans life, every moment should be momentous, knowing it could be their last. But few cared at all! That had been the start of Jareth's games, teaching little girls to be more careful. Boys… I would rather take them as airs; birth is uncommon amongst the more powerful Fae. Most children became simple goblins, the child had to special! Long gone were the days that a Fae could switch babes at birth, the underground almost completely separate from the human world. Jareth could travel through the world as an owl, well any animal, but his owl form was his favorite. He could also watch through mirrors and his crystals (the physical manifestation of his power) However if a Fae wishes to enter the human world with all its power, it must first be summoned.

" You're him, aren't you? You're the Goblin King! I want my brother back, please, if it's all the same."

" What's said is said."

" But... I didn't mean it."

" Oh, you didn't?"

" Please, where is he?"

" You know very well where he is."

" Please bring him back. Please!"

" Sarah... go back to your room. Play with your toys and your costumes. Forget about the baby."

" I can't."

" I've brought you... a gift."

" What is it?"

" It's a crystal. Nothing more. But if you turn it _this_ way and look into it... it'll show you your dreams. But this is no gift for an ordinary girl, who takes care of a screaming baby. Do you want it?... Then forget the baby!"

" I can't. It isn't that I don't appreciate what you're trying to do for me, but I want my brother back. He must be so scared…"

" Sarah... don't defy me! You're no match for me, Sarah!"

" But I have to have my brother back!"

" He's there... in my castle. Do you still want to look for him?"

" Is that... the castle beyond the Goblin City?"

" Turn back, Sarah. Turn back before it's too late."

" I can't. Don't you understand that I can't?"

" What a pity."

" It doesn't look that far."

" It's further than you think... and time is short. You have thirteen hours in which to solve the Labyrinth, before your baby brother becomes one of us... forever. _Such_ a pity..."

* * *

Hoggle had noticed it first, three months since she had beaten the Labyrinth and Jareth at his own game. Sarah stopped reading and playing pretend before she went to bed. Which, she had begun to go to earlier and earlier. He didn't pop in on Sarah if he could help it. He wudn't like that sneaky rat Jareth, watch'in, eavesdrop'in, jumping out when you hads your back turned to em. But Sarah hadn't been visiting them and the little lady didn't look well at all. He watched er just on the other side of the glass, er school lessons in front of er. She was study 'in hard, good learner she was. Gonna grow up real smart, smarter than she was now.

"Sarah…" Hoggle called out before showing himself, slowly fading into sight in the mirror. Doing his best not to scare her, he called again a little louder. Sarah looked up and her eyes brighten and she smiled widely.

"Hoggle!" She beamed. Hoggle felt better already. She then explained that she had a cold and had been very sleepy, had even fallen asleep at school during lunch. She laughed and said he would have too. It put his mind and the rest of her friends at ease… for a while.

She'd get better, than get sick again, always something else. She grew a little taller and thinned in the face some, but by the time seven months had pasted it was clear she wasn't getting any better.

She didn't go to school anymore, spent most of her time in bed, resting, or doing home work. Her father had brought a TV in for her, which he put on her vanity table blocking the view of the mirror. It wasn't just Sarah's friends (Hoggle, Didymus, Ludo, Ambrosius ect.) that had noticed and had begun to worry, The Goblin King had been keeping a close watch over her too...

* * *

"DO YOU THINK I DON'T KNOW WHAT HUMAN ILLNESS IS?" Jareth shouted, all the bells in the Goblin city moaned and whine with the echoes of his anger. His voice was low and threatening "I lived nearly millennia before I was the Goblin King, which I have been for longer than anyone from your realm can remember! DO NOT think you can play me for a fool! Her soul is fading, this is no common sickness!"

Jareth had invited (more like demanded) for one of the scribes of the Eternal Story for an audience. The book of Eternity was a world within itself. It's pages noted all the actions, done and undone by everything and everyone in every realm. The little creature standing before him had left from it's relatively young world (no older than the human world) to become a scribe. It's many eyes blinked, a few glanced in the direction of the nearest exit. That pleased Jareth, at least it knew not to waist anymore of his time… Sarah's time…

"I meant no disrespect your grace. I simply wished to remind you, for it was your actions that has caused her condition." Jareth's head turned ever so slightly as he leaned forward.

"What?" He breathed through his pointed teeth. Even his whisper echoed loudly in the stone halls of the mountain keep. He had left his castle to brood alone in the mountain so he could vent his rage. The stone arm of his throne cracked from Jareth's grip, tightening so that he would not attack the scribe, at least not until he got an answer.

"The peach." The rock crumbled and gave way, The Goblin King felt as if it was his own heart crushed to dust in his hand. Realizing what was wrong and that he was the cause of what could very soon be Sarah's death.

"Be gone." He barked as he slumped forward, the scribe disappeared.

* * *

**Authors note: My writing tends to go a little slow, however reviews make people write faster! let me know if I should keep going please... Also your feelings about Jareth/Sarah even though she is just 16... not sure how far I'm gonna take it yet.**


	2. A song

Sarah half woke when she heard a familiar song, she had fallen asleep watching MTV, she knew the voice, and the lyrics… she just couldn't place them.

* * *

"How you turn my world you precious thing, you starve and near exhaust me…"

* * *

Her eyes blinked been her vision only cleared slightly, the room was dark all but for a hazy light, glowing out and around the TV across the room from where she was laying in bed.

* * *

"Everything I've done, I've done for you…"

* * *

I've done for Yooou echoed again and again in her sleep dazed mind.

* * *

"…I move the stars for no one…"

* * *

**_Everything!_**_ Everything that you wanted I have done... _Sarah sat up in bed, the TV was fuzzy and flickering, she saw a face, a face the matched a name she could remember.

"Jareth." she whispered.

* * *

"You've run so long. You've run so far. Your eyes can be so cruel… Just as I can be so cruel…"

* * *

_Sarah, beware. I have been generous up 'til now. I can be cruel._ Generous, gennnn-or-ressss. Like her memory was in slow motion as she started to remember a funny dream, a dream that had been so real. What had been... been generous?

_You asked that the child be taken. I took him. You cowered before me, I was frightening. I have reordered time. I have turned the world upside down, and I have done it all for **you!** I am exhausted from living up to your expectations of me…_

* * *

"…Oh I do believe in you…Yes I do! Live without the sunlight. Love without your heartbeat. I, I can't live within you… I can't live within you."

* * *

The TV screen came back into focus and Jareth was gone.

"Jareth" Sarah said over and over again. It had been the first time he had heard her say is name. whispered like a prayer from her pale lips. Jareth whispered his own prayer in reply. Though she could not hear it.

"Remember Sarah, please, remember! I've just a wish away!"

Sarah, Sarah… He didn't love her, not at first. He was quite sure he didn't have a heart, not one that felt…love. He felt passion, lust, want, hungering desire, joy, pride, annoyance, hate, anger, rage, repulsion, loathing, glee with each victory… Little Sarah made him feel knew emotions, or ones he hadn't felt for so long he couldn't remember what they were, like; worry, doubt, concern. He was familiar with sadness, it often lurked in the shadows, following him throughout his castle, loneliness echoing in the voids of what could have been, maybe once was, or could become, a loving, beating heart.

Shortly after he poisoned her, _killed her_ (he cursed himself at the thought) when she was dancing in his arms at the masquerade; the dream he had made for her. He had thought showing her a more grown up world, one she was beautiful and adored in would maybe make her care less about her brother, lose some of her power, replacing it with selfish desire that seeped out of the heart of every adult in the human world. He decided she should be the loveliest lady there, weaken her integrity with vanity, but his magic did so little to change her. Dress and hair… that wasn't much, she was already so beautiful. Her innocence and strength burned like fire and ice in his hands. As she moved, they moved their bodies' as one, touching only a little but still connected so deeply; he was glad his tempts to sully her had failed. He felt… uncomfortable, challenged, but more alive than he had felt in centuries.

She amazed him again, fighting the dream, shattering the vision of all her imaginings he had brought to life for her. She hurt him, bruised him deeper than he thought anything could, anger boiled making him forget the twinge of… gilt? Remorse? To hell with her! Damn her stupid dreams, her mind was gone, empty, as he thought these very thoughts she was forgetting everything. He too was forgetting her already! He lied to himself, as he pushed her to the back of his mind. His hands still tingling from where he had touched her...

And again she rose to and bested his challenge! Panic, relief, worry… and something else…Hope maybe? Maybe someone as strong as Sarah, strong enough to be a Queen, to be a King's Queen. It was like lighting what filled him so completely and then was gone again all at once.

How she had obliterated his world with those six abhorrence words, that lighting hot, blinding electric fire filled him once more, even as she abolish him from her presence.

"Damn you Sarah, to a hell of your own tormenting! DO YOU NOT KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE DONE TO ME!" He heard the echo of her words protesting that "It isn't fare!" His own words now mocking him, as they once had taunted her… "You say that so often, I wonder what your basis for comparison is?"

"Remember me Sarah please, I can save you! Please Sarah, just think of me, dream of me, wish for me! Sarah…"

* * *

**Author's note: I'm trying to take things from the movie like the song "Within you" or quoting parts to reflect memories or what part of the "Movie story-line" this is connected to. gonna get deeper and darker pretty quick, hopefully it's a good ride! Please Review! and Thank you to those who already have! **


	3. Chapter 3

Sarah knew she was dying, or close to it. She wasn't scared of dying; what terrified her was the feeling of losing her mind. Her memories, the wonderful dreams and places she had imagined. Most days she knew all the pieces were there, some were just hidden, or things had become all jumbled up like a puzzle.

She read as much as she could, filling her brain as it began to feel a little emptier each day. She found she was very good at salving puzzles, or maybe she was just drawn to them. She had never been great at math but something she read in a science magazine (while in another hospital waiting room) "Math the language of God" it had a space age vibe to it. Reading between the lines and all the technical gob-bully-gook it said that God like powers or what could only be explained as magic could be done with math. Everything is made out of smaller and smaller parts, until you can't get any smaller. Those are the "Elements" everything is made out of them. So it's just a matter of math on an atomic scale. She had begun to try and solve a problem, she wasn't sure what it was, or if it was something math could solve, but she worked on it just the same. It went like this: 3 + 4 + 2 + 5 + 2 = 6 sometimes she would write underneath "He hates six!"

* * *

One night when Sarah finally fell into restless dreams, she dreamt she was very small. Standing on her table, she started doing her non-math math problem on the mirror with black eyeliner that she never wore. And it went something like this…

if 3 = the sum of y3 + o3 + u3, then 4 = the sum of h4 + a4 + v4 + e4…

if 2 = the sum of n2 + o2, then 5 would = the sum of p5 + o5 + w5 + e5 + r5, = to the sum of m2 + e2. the total she came up with was 143.

She spaced out the numbers below the rest as 1 4 3.

"I wish…" Jareth held his breath. "I wish… I wish I knew what this meant."

"What troubles you my dear?" The Goblin King appeared before her, he stepped through the mirror and all her math scribbles like they weren't there.

He was tall, long wisps of blonde hair framed his shape facial feature, his pricing eyes and pointed brows. Impossibly tight, high wasted black leather pants met a dark grey long sleeved shirt with French cuffs that peeked out beneath the sleeves of a glittering back jacket with tails.

His hands were gloved in matching black leather, large jeweled rings fitted over them. One was a dragon, its eyes were rubies and its sliver point beak curled over his knuckle like a claw. He held a cane adorn with an oddly shaped skull, black diamond's set as its eyes.

Jareth's breath caught in his throat, seeing her properly for the first time in weeks. She looked ten times weaker, thinner, a shadow of the girl she once was. But he features remained indifferent.

"You're Jareth…" She whispered.

"And you're Sarah; now that the obvious has been stated tell me what it is you want."

"You know who I am…?" Jareth did his best to look annoyed instead of concerned.

"Know who you are? I know you better than you know yourself! I gave you everything you ask for not so long ago, I offered to give you everything you ever wanted…" Sarah remembered his words… _"I ask for so little. Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave."… _"And you were rude enough not only to refuse my offer you banded me from your presences until now, summoning me only because you want something."

"I summoned you?"

"A wish is a wish… You of all people should know that." As they spoke he paced around her looking her up and down. Finally he waved his hand and most of the numbers disappeared as Sarah's writing rearranged itself. _You have no power over me._ "Those six spiteful little words did the trick…" Then the letters burst into flames, smoldering into ash until they fall of the mirrored glass as sparkling dust. "You solved my Labyrinth, not without help mind you! But as you started so often, the Labyrinth is far from fare." The sparkling dust seemed to be multiplying, then started to pour out from the other side of the mirror as well. They imagine in the mirror changed glittering white sand stretching out as her as Sarah could see beneath a dark purple sky.

"What's going on, what is this?" Panic filled her voice as the sand poured over her feet.

"Through the mirror is The Desert of the Sands of Time. We must cross it if you wish to remember everything, and if you are lucky you'll find your answers in time to save your life."

"Wh… Why are you doing this for me?" Jareth rolled his eyes.

"I am if anything a man of my word. I swore that if you won my game I would return you and your brother safe and sound. You might have been "safe" but you my dear are anything but sound."

"Do you know what's wrong with me?" Her eyes began to shine with tears as she looked up into his. His face remained stony.

"That is the question now isn't it… You are dying, do you want to live?"

"Yes…" Sarah answered, staring tight back at him unblinking, doing her best to keep her tears from spilling.

"And what does a plain ordinary girl like you have to live for?" She gasped a little, taken back by his cold bluntness. "This is a rather dramatic twist in your life's story…" I eyed her one of his brows slightly raised.

"My story isn't over."

"So you would risk the unknown? This is a path not even I, The Goblin King have taken before… Are you so afraid of dying?"

"Living means being afraid, I could be dead now…" She shifted her weight and smoothed her pajamas'. "…I don't have many answers, but I won't stop looking until I find them all."

"Then there is _nothing_ wrong with you, you are still the same Sarah…" He peered down his nose at her, as if he was making up his mind weather to say something. "You might not remember her well, but the two of you would be proud of each other." She couldn't tell if it was meant as a complaint, insult, or mere observation. With a sniff he turned to face the mirror once more.

"Beyond The Desert of the Sands of Time is a small island. Somewhere on that island is The Temple of Knowledge which is the home to the Book of Eternity. Its pages catalog the doings and undoing of everyone and everything, everything that has happened, could have, or may still happen is noted. You became sick because of what was done, that is somewhere in the book, along with; more importantly for our purposes… what can or will be undone! Finding that is the key to your survival."

Things began to spin a little as Sarah's vision became bury, Jareth's voice echoed in her ears.

"Now that you know where you must go, but first there is something you must do. Wake up Sarah... Wake up..."


	4. Chapter 4

Sarah woke drenched in sweat, her hands balled into fists and her body ached everywhere like she had fallen down a flight of stairs. But she remembered, she remembered everything that had happened in her dream! She also recall some of a story she had read the " Labyrinth".

She slowly got up, doing her best not to make herself dizzier than she already was. Looking through her things little ripples of memories came in waves, washing over her, even though few made any sense she felt a great deal of comfort knowing they were hers. Sarah had felt alone, not just in her room by herself, it didn't matter where she was or who she was with. Even Toby seemed dissent in her arms. The people she loved dearly were becoming shadows in her world, or was she simply fading into nothingness. What she felt now was tangible, warm, reassuring.

She found the book without much effort; the pages were worn from being turned again and again. She took it with her as she walked down to breakfast. However her smile faded when she met Karen's eyes from across the kitchen, they were red from crying. Karen explained that the tests had once again come up negative, or inconclusive. Sarah walked over and hugged her tight.

"We are trying everything we can!" She sniffled into Sarah's shoulder. "It isn't right, parents shouldn't… I mean it's not fair… O Sarah! You are so strong and beautiful!" She said as she held her at arm's length. They wiped away each other's tears and after another long hug they sat down to eat breakfast. After breakfast Sarah helped with the dishes. She thought for a few moments while drying the plates before finally asking Karen if she could read to her and Toby.

There were a few more tears along with plenty of laughs and smiles as they took turns reading and sometimes making up voices to go along with the different creatures. Sarah was much better at the voices and reading with dramatic flourishes, and Karen told her so. By the end Sarah was very tried but felt good just the same… good, maybe better. She still looked just as ill but the shine was back in her eyes, her lips turned into a slight smile.

As much as Karen wanted Sarah's father to see how cheery she was, so very upbeat she instead that Sarah rest before dinner. The three of them spent most of the day reading to Toby in the living room. As Sarah climbed the stairs she knew she wouldn't be coming back down them, not for a long while, maybe not ever. She wrote on her mirror in red lipstick, "My story is not over". She finally crawled into bed still holding the book close to her chest as she closed her eyes and wished once more.

"I wish the Goblin King would come and take me away, right now…" Was what she thought about saying…

Instead she cleared her mind, until she saw herself in her mind's eye standing on top of a pool of black liquid that reflected back up at her like a mirror. She imagined white and blue snowflakes falling down from the empty blackness above her. As they touched her naked skin the transformed into a simple white and pale blue fitted top, ribbed and lanced up the front and back almost like a corset. The black liquid ran up her legs coating them until it to convert from liquid to leather pants. A dagger hung from her belt of matching black leather, as she gazed down at her reflection she looked and felt much more like a heroin ready for a quest.

"Jareth, The Goblin King, I summon you!"

* * *

**Sorry thats all it's gonna be for awhile very busy at work thanks for your support, should have plenty to post once I get the chance! Until next time! **


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